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2020 Oklahoma City Tornado Outbreak
One day on May, 22nd, 2020 there was an outbreak that would change meteorology for the years to come, and here's the story. The Beginning Earlier, on May, 22nd, the National weather service issued a Moderate Risk for Hail up to 2" in diameter, winds up to 75 MPH, and the possibility for a few tornadoes, with the possibility that there would be a long tracked one. It was also mentioned that the wind shear was capped, meaning that there was a block of uplift. Also, the times for the worst storms would be between 4PM-9PM. The Watch At about 12PM, there was an announcement that there would be a tornado watch for the OKC metro until 11PM, and said it was also because of a dryline. The National Weather Service also upgraded the risk level to a High Risk, for winds up to 80 MPH, Hail up to 3" diameter, and a tornado outbreak. There were also reports of thunderstorms forming around 100 miles from OKC, and that the line of storms would hit the OKC metro between 5PM and 7PM. Beginning of an Outbreak At around 2:30PM, there were already severe thunderstorm warnings being issued around 75 miles away from Oklahoma City, and the clouds were starting to darken around Oklahoma City. Also, a Wind Advisory was issued because there were already non-thunderstorm gusts at around 35-45MPH. And also, businesses in and around the OKC area were leaving their places because of the storm. Another Update At around 3:30PM,The national weather service announced that ahead of the line, there were thunderstorms forming that could turn tornadic, and that they were expected to hit Oklahoma City at around 4:30PM, and could produce large hail, strong winds, and weak tornadoes. There were also Severe Thunderstorm Warnings being issued around the OKC metro at the time. First Tornado At 3:55PM, there was a tornado warning for central Caddo County until 4:45PM for strong rotation being reported, and that if the supercell lived long enough, it could hit the OKC metro. A few minutes after that, at 4:02PM, there was a report of a tornado touching down in Gracemont, and it was moving at 45 MPH, and could hit Oklahoma City. But shortly after that, the tornado dissipated and there was an estimate that the winds were 85MPH at the strongest, and the path was about 2.5 miles. Another One At 4:13, there was a tornado warning issued for Northern Canadian County until 5:00PM for a tornado confirmation, but like the first one, that one dissipated quickly after forming, and the estimated path length was 1.7 miles, with winds were at 80 MPH at the strongest. The Big One At 4:37, a tornado warning was issued for Northeast Caddo County, Northern Grady County, Southern Canadian County, and Oklahoma County for reports of very strong rotation with a likely hood of producing a tornado. Then at 4:46, there was a tornado touchdown, which lifted two minutes later. Then, It touched down again, but only to merge with a mesocyclone couplet. Then the tornado, which was in a storm faster then the two, sucked both storms up and also became a multi- vortex tornado. It went from a small 90MPH tornado to a large nearly mile-wide tornado with winds of up to 175MPH in just five minutes. Then for Oklahoma County, the tornado warning became a PDS tornado warning for the fact that the winds were starting to increase in speed and get larger. This tornado was very bad for the people in Greater OKC for the fact that hundreds of thousands of people will be impacted by a tornado that is less than an hour away and likely will not dissipate. Then around 5:30PM, the tornado was about 1.4 miles of Downtown OKC, with the strongest confrmed winds reported in the tornado, 363MPH, and it was also about 2.2 miles wide, which was one of the widest tornadoes ever. But winds of EF-0 strength from the tornado extended for as much as 2-3 miles radius. Then the tornado went through downtown Oklahoma City with winds of 330-370MPH. There were reports that the tornado also killed 497 people and injured thousands. ' Statistics' Damage Cost: Fatalities: Injuries: Tornadoes EF-0: 2 EF-1:3 EF-2:1 EF-3:1 EF-4:1 EF-5:1 Total:9 Tornado 1: Touchdown Time: 4:02PM Lift-Up Time: 4:06PM Strongest Winds: 85MPH (EF-0) Path Length: 2.5 miles Path Width: 0.14 miles Fatalities:0 Injuries:2 Cost(USD): $650,000 Tornado 2: Touchdown Time:4:13PM Lift-Up Time:4:15PM Strongest Winds: 80MPH(EF-0) Path Length:1.7 miles Path Width:0.09 miles Fatalities:0 Injuries:3 Cost(USD): $400,000 Tornado 3: Touchdown Time:4:17PM Lift-Up Time:4:36PM Strongest Winds: 174MPH(EF-4) Path Length: 16.6 miles Path Width: 0.8 miles Fatalities:3 Injuries:12 Cost(USD):$2.1 million Tornado 4: Touchdown Time: 4:21PM Lift-Up Time:4:25PM Strongest Winds:96MPH (EF-1) Path Length:3.4 miles Path Width:0.7 miles Fatalities: 0 Injuries:7 Cost(USD):$1.4 million Tornado 5: Touchdown Time: 4:27PM Lift-Up Time: 4:52PM Strongest Winds: 143MPH (EF-3) Path Length: 18.5 Path Width: 1.6 miles Fatalities:8 Injuries:18 Cost(USD): $4.7 million Tornado 6: Touchdown Time: Lift-Up Time: Strongest Winds:105MPH(EF-1) Path Length: Path Width: Fatalities: Injuries: Cost(USD): Tornado 1: Touchdown Time:4:46 Lift-Up Time:6:31 Strongest Winds:363MPH(EF-5/EF-6) Path Length:102 miles Path Width:2.2 miles Fatalities:497 Injuries:12,254 Cost(USD):$4.1 billion Tornado 1: Touchdown Time: Lift-Up Time: Strongest Winds:95MPH(EF-1) Path Length: Path Width: Fatalities: Injuries: Cost(USD): Tornado 1: Touchdown Time: Lift-Up Time: Strongest Winds: Path Length: Path Width: Fatalities: Injuries: Cost(USD): Category:Hypothetical Disasters Category:Deadly Disasters Category:Destructive Disasters